Despite a blowout scoreline in the All Blacks' 102-0 victory over an understrength Tonga, coach Ian Foster said the game still held importance.
The All Blacks' season opener at Mt Smart Stadium last night saw a massive mismatch, with Tonga sporting 13 debutants in a side heavily affected by restricted travel.
With the majority of Tonga's key players stuck in Europe, questions arose over whether the game provided any benefit for either side however, following the match, Foster was quick to point out the positives.
“We had some areas we wanted to target. I think I flagged we really wanted to drive our skill level early and sometimes you can start to abandon that when the score goes up a bit and get too loose," Foster said.
“I felt there were moments we started to get really flat in our support and lost the advantage of the line-breaks we were getting. But after a while we readjusted and started to convert a lot of the opportunities we got. That took discipline and we probably get a bit of a pat on the back for that.”
Foster also acknowledged that Tonga's underwhelming performance was inevitable in the current circumstances however he said the fixture was a good way to start the season.
“Take away Covid, take away quarantining and add another month on the calendar for the world rugby thing. There is no solution to that right now," Foster said.
“I’d be disappointed if that’s what we are dwelling on. We weren’t happy last year when we got no rugby. This year we’ve got some rugby. Clearly the itinerary has put Tonga in a compromised position, but they’ve been keen to play and deserve a lot of credit for that.
“I’d like think we aren’t just going to focus on the scoreline and say this was a game that shouldn’t have happened, because for the Tongan people it was an important game, and it was equally important for us to go out and start what could be a long year."
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